Hero's Duty
by ShearViscosity
Summary: Being a Surge Protector is a thankless job, that Surge starts having second thoughts about. Until a power outage occurs and he learns the true meaning of 'Hero's Duty'.


I do not own the rights to Wreck-It-Ralph.

**Hero's Duty**

Being a Surge Protector was a thankless job.

Surge Protector (as he didn't have a proper name like the arcade characters. Personally he always favored the name Bertram) did his job as a surge protector/security guard with pride. He tried his best to look after Grand Central Station and to ensure all the games remained safe and in good working condition and made sure each and every character got home safely when traveling abroad.

Using the cable that connected his power strip to the outlet in the wall, then to the power supplying the computer so he could read Litwak's e-mail to determine if any new games were coming or if any were leaving. He'd also check his phone history to make sure he didn't miss anything. That way he could ensure all characters left before their games were unplugged, or be there to welcome new characters once they plugged in.

All he asked in return was for them to respect his rules- don't bring stuff back from other games into your own, and don't vandalize the game station.

That was it. It was all he asked, and did they respect his rules? No. Did they respect him? No.

Alright, he had a lot to answer to for the Turbo incident and allowing him to escape not just into one game, but two. In his defense, he was just starting out as a surge protector and nobody had warned him against the dangers of game jumpers. Actually, he hadn't even been expecting to protect arcade games, he would have been happy with protecting simple household devices such as radios, lamps, TV's, or appliances. Dull compared to protecting an arcade, but much more common.

He had learned from his mistakes though. All characters had to go through him and account for their whereabouts when they traveled. His system had worked perfectly too, until Ralph came along.

Why couldn't he have just been happy with his role in his game? At least he had a game and a home. Surge Protector didn't have either, just Game Central Station which vandals kept spreading their graffiti on. 'Aerith lives', what utter nonsense.

He did have the internet and the rest of the city grid, but he kept his time out to a minimum During the day was the best time to go since characters would be consumed with games, the station was mostly empty during the day, save generic NPC characters who wouldn't be missed as they enjoyed the quiet of the station. Surge enjoyed getting out, but he had to be careful not to leave his own port unattended. It was not a case of worrying about characters getting out, but worrying about what could get_ in_. Many a good outlet strip had died because their surge protector wasn't doing their job.

Ralph made his job so difficult to do though. Sneaking cherries out from Pac-Man was just one offense of many. First it was cherries, then it was game-jumping and allowing the Cy-Bugs to escape into Sugar Rush nearly destroying the game. Ralph did fix his mess, but then created another one by creating a 'boss level' for the homeless Q*bert characters.

His heart was in the right place, but there was a reason for Surge's rules. Items or characters specific to a game need to stay in their game during arcade hours. Otherwise, there could be disastrous consequences such as a game getting unplugged. Or having too much attention paid to a specific game by the players. Already word was out about the quarky Fix-It-Felix Jr. game at Litwak's that featured Q*bert characters. It had spread to other players, then to the town, and now was on the internet with players flocking to the arcade to see whether it was a rumor or not. Luckily, Surge had managed to delete most of the messages and videos that players had taken/sent to others, so the situation was under control.

But still. It seemed as if Surge was the only one who took himself seriously and he was starting to wonder if it was worth it. If Ralph could abandon his game and have a grand adventure to become a hero, why couldn't Surge? What was stopping him from leaving the station to go have his own adventure? From becoming a hero of his own, and being appreciated?

These thoughts had been coming to him recently. They were currently consuming him even as he was signing Sergeant Calhoun out of Hero's Duty so she could visit Felix in Fix-It-Felix Jr. Ever since they got married, they would be in their games during the day, then spend their nights together, switching the place up every other week or so.

Sergeant Calhoun was one of the few characters he respected. As a Sergeant she understood the importance of rules and order, and what could happen lest they be disobeyed. She was the one of the few who obeyed his rules or even showed him any respect at all. In return, he made sure her check-in and out went as efficiently as possible. The fact that she was also instrumental in cleaning up Ralph's mess didn't hurt her either.

He was right in the middle of checking her into Fix-It-Felix Jr. when the lights in the station went out. Several characters in the station cried out in alarm at the sudden darkness.

Including Sergeant Calhoun. "What's going on?" she demanded, instinctively reaching for her weapon. Her voice had a hardness in it that Surge wasn't fond of. He had finally managed to finish the repairs to his station from Ralph's incident, he didn't need more damage to the station, especially from trigger-happy Calhoun, as fond as he was of her.

In an attempt to calm her and the other panicked station inhabitants down, Surge said, "Everybody calm down, it's just a power outage. There's a severe thunderstorm in the area that most likely knocked out a power line or two. The storm should pass soon, and the power company will be able to restore power soon after. Until then, everybody please remain calm."

"Calm?" cried Calhoun with weapon in hand. "How am I supposed to remain calm when Felix won't remember me!"

Ah, so that's what had her worried. While one of the biggest fears of being unplugged was never being plugged in again, there was a second fear- being plugged in and reset to factory condition; losing your memories and relationships and having to start over from scratch. Being new, Sergeant Calhoun had never experienced a power outage at the arcade and was unaware of the protocols Surge had in place.

"Sergeant Calhoun, I assure you Felix's memory is still intact. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be doing my job as a Surge Protector in this outlet strip."

Surge couldn't see the expression on Calhoun's face, but he had a feeling it wasn't pleasant. Probably one of her intimidating glares she used to get her men into shape. He was actually rather grateful the lights were out and he wasn't able to see it. Didn't need to let Calhoun know that he was actually intimidated by her. Just a bit.

Keeping his voice calm, he continued, "There are protocols in place to protect the games from outages. Right now all characters are for lack of a better word, 'paused'. When the power comes back on, they'll resume their actions as if nothing happened. The more experienced ones such as Felix will recognize what happened at which point I have no doubt he'll come for you. Now, will you please put your weapon back in its holster? I will not have a fight breaking out in my station over a trivial thing such as darkness."

"Fine," said Calhoun through gritted teeth. "But if you're wrong, a rogue Cy-bug will be the least of your worries."

Surge had to remind himself that Calhoun couldn't really hurt him since he didn't have 'lives'. However he did have a station near and dear to his heart and he had no doubt Calhoun would destroy all of his hard work in seconds.

To distract her from the weapon on her hip, he organized a game of Marco-Polo (learned from the internet, it was truly a marvelous source of information), played in darkness instead of water. The characters had to be careful not to injure themselves since they were out of their games, but it just added to the challenge of the game. Players had to move more slowly and quietly, and as such had a better chance of catching their fellow players off guard depending on their stealth skills.

The game worked as an excellent distraction for Calhoun. To her it was just another form of evasive training which she seemed to be enjoying immensely given the tone of her voice. It had changed from hostile to smug, most likely due to the fact that she had yet to be tagged.

When the lights finally came on, the characters seemed to be more disappointed than relieved, especially Zombie who was the current 'It'.

The frown on Calhoun's face disappeared as Felix came running out of his port (ignoring Surge to his annoyance. Everybody else was mostly obeying him as he directed them to their proper games).

"Felix!" she cried as they embraced tightly. Surge might have shed a tear if he was able to. Maybe.

"Are you okay, Tamora? I can remember my first outage and boy was it scary, in fact-"

Felix's ramble was quickly cut off by a kiss, and not a moment too soon in Surge's opinion. Not that anybody asked him.

Once they broke away, Calhoun (Surge couldn't bear to think of her by her first name Tamora, it was just too intimate) said, "I was fine thanks to this guy," and pointed to Surge. "Haven't seen a soldier that cool in battle since the Great Cy-Bug War of '89."

Surge knew that the Great Cy-Bug War of '89 was nothing but part of Calhoun's character history, but praise from her was still appreciated.

"It was nothing, Sargeant, just doing my job," replied Surge modestly.

"Nothing? Why last week when one of the Nice-Landers surprised her she nearly destroyed the Niceland complex. Thank goodness I had my magic hammer to fix everything."

Calhoun's cheeks turned red, but she refused to let herself be embarrassed. "They shouldn't have snuck up on a Sergeant. Next time they'll know better!"

It was hard for Surge to suppress a chuckle, so he turned into a cough which both Calhoun and Felix politely ignored.

"Gee," said Felix, "I wish there was someway I could still thank you though... I know!" Felix started to dig through his pockets rather excitedly, before pulling something out. Whatever it was very shiny, reflecting the light as it hit the object. Looking closer, Surge could see it was one of the famous medals that Felix was always receiving in his game.

Felix held out the medal in his hand, and Surge tentatively picked it up. He never had a medal before. He had seen them, confiscated them, and knew what they were. He just never had one of his own.

"For me?" he asked, his voice full of hesitation, as if the medal was too good to be true. It most likely was. It had to be.

"Of course it is," responded Calhoun, taking the medal out of his hand and placing it around his neck. "You're a hero, and as such deserve a medal."

Surge looked down at the medal that hung around his neck, and fingered it gingerly. He had a medal, a hero's medal and it was all his. He didn't even have to worry about it ending up in another game, for his home was the station where it didn't matter if game items were mixed together.

The medal was shiny enough not just to reflect the light in the station, but images as well. From the ports along the walls, to the characters mingling about comparing their power outage history and experience, to even the graffiti that Surge loathed so much on the walls. This was his home, and he would do whatever he needed to in order to protect it and its inhabitants. How could he have ever considered leaving it? This was where he belonged.

"Congratulations Surge," said Calhoun and stuck out her hand to shake his.

"Actually," replied Surge taking her hand into his, "It's Bertram."

Bertram really did have a nice ring to it. He should start using it more often.

"Congratulations Bertram," responded Calhoun. "See you in the morning?"

"Looking forward to it."

Calhoun placed her arm around Felix and started to make her way into his game. Before they vanished, he managed to make out a couple words regarding a new favorite game of hers.

Turning around he saw the majority of the characters looking at him and the medal around his neck curiously, before breaking out into applause. It took a couple seconds before Bertram realized it was for_ him_.

The applause was very odd. He had internally complained so many times about how his job was a thankless one, and now all the characters he complained about, were in fact thanking him like he had always wanted.

Suddenly he understood why Ralph did what he did. All he wanted was a little appreciation, a little acknowledgement for doing his job successfully day in and day out. Perhaps Ralph wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Bertram just would never tell Ralph he thought that. Might give him and the other characters that he was becoming soft and lax.

Deciding the best response was a modest one, Betram bowed to the sea of characters. "It was nothing, just doing my duty."

_A hero's duty_, he added silently in his mind.

****Author's Note****

I've only seen the movie once so please forgive me if I get any of the details wrong or the characters are OOC. I enjoyed the movie, but still had some lingering questions. What about power outages? Would the characters just reboot? If so that would be very troublesome. Why couldn't Ralph take the cherries out of Pac-Man? If the characters could travel through cords and wires, what stopped them from going out of the arcade and onto the electrical grid? And how did Litwak manage to avoid all those questions about the Wreck-It-Ralph game suddenly having Q*bert characters?

This fic is the result once I realized Surge was the answer, and he truly must have a thankless job judging by how the game characters treated him in the movie. However thankless, it is still an important one, and I felt like he deserved a medal just as much as Ralph did.

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed the fic. If possible, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, or any details I might have gotten wrong.


End file.
